His first race was at
Opa-locka Speedway near
Miami, Florida in a
1934 Ford in
1946. He became famous as a member of the
Alabama Gang. Estimates of Farmer's career victories range from 700 to 900 victories, most occurring in the late 1950s and early 60's. He raced 36
NASCAR races from 1953 to 1975. He won numerous championships at local tracks. He was the NASCAR National Late Model Sportsman champion (later
Busch Series) for three consecutive years from 1969 to 1971. Farmer's best finish in
NASCAR's top division was a fourth at both the 1972
Talladega 500 , and the 1968 Middle Georgia 500 near
Macon, Georgia). He had so few Cup races because he was content to run primarily in the Late Model Sportsman. He was named
NASCAR's most popular driver 4 times. Red later raced in the white and gold #97 car. In the mid 60's, however, Red raced a white, gold, and red Ford Fairlane, #F-97.
He was
Davey Allison's crew chief in the
Busch Series.
Red has retained his skills as a driver in spite of his age. He competed in 2 Busch Grand National races in 1992. On June 2005, Farmer, now over 70, turned heads in winning a heat over current NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup stars, and finished 8th in the feature during the
Nextel Prelude to the Dream at
Eldora Speedway, owned by
Tony Stewart.
